Objectives: The effectiveness of acupuncture on cancer pain is relatively well established, while there have been few clinical studies on pharmacopuncture on that. This research was aimed to investigate a trend of pharmacopuncture treatment for cancer pain and to propose information for further research. Methods: Clinical studies on pharmacopuncture for cancer pain were collected from 5 Korean medical databases. And the studies were analyzed by classifications of cancer, chief complaints, interventions, treating skills, additional treatments, treatment session, outcome measures, results and adverse effects. Results: The literatures were 8 case reports and 1 randomized controlled trial. Interventions were pharmacopunctures of soyeom, mountain ginseng, Harpagophyti Radix, snake venom, Trionycis Carapax, bee venom, Aconitum Ciliare Decaisne. Treatment skills, procedures, and indications of each pharmacopuncture were different. An adverse effects of bruising, bleeding, mild chilling, sore throat and pain were mentioned on snake venom and bee venom treatment. Conclusions: An appropriate interventions and treatment skills should be selected according to the type of cancer pain. And treatment procedures to ensure safety must be developed.

Objective: Most cancer patients suffer from various forms of pain. This study presents the case of a patient with hapatocellular carcinoma with abdominal pain treated by Daegunjoong-tang. Method: For 7 days, the patient was treated with Daegunjoong-Tang and Moxibustion. We planned to maintain moxibustion CV12(中脘), CV4(關元) for 20 minutes everyday. To evaluate the therapeutic effect, we used Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale (COWS). Results: After the treatments, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale (COWS) score about abdominal pain are decreased. Conclusions: These results suggested that Daegunjoong-tang and Moxibustion have a beneficial effect on relieving abdominal pain caused by cancer.

Objective: This study was aimed to report the therapeutic effects of herbal medicine on chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). Methods: The prior studies were searched from the databases included PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, CNKi, CiNii, KISS, NDSL, KMBASE, and OASIS until September 2020. The main search keywords were chemotherapy, peripheral neuropathy, and herbal medicine, and only randomized controlled trials that analyzed the therapeutic efficacy of herbal medicine were included. The Cochrane's Risk of Bias was used for assessment of the risk of bias and the Review Manager 5.3 program was used for meta-analysis. Meta-analyses were grouped by the administration routes of herbal medicines (oral administration or topical use). Results: Nine studies with a total of 563 participants were included. Compared with usual care, the effective rate was higher in oral administrated herbal medicine (RR 1.67, 95% CI 1.25 to 2.23; p<0.001, I2=31%). In addition, topical herbal medicine showed an significantly higher effective rate than placebo (RR 2.20, 95% CI 1.52 to 3.18; p<0.001, I2=0%) and usual care (RR 2.24, 95% CI 1.74 to 2.89; p<0.001, I2=66%). There was no severe adverse effect in all participants. Conclusions: Herbal medicine appears to improve neuropathy caused by chemotherapy in cancer patients more than conventional therapy of CIPN. However, as there is heterogeneity between the included studies and a lack of blinding, further well-designed researches are more needed.

Objective: Constipation is the most common adverse effect of opioid analgesic therapy in cancer patients. This can be associated with physical and emotional distress to cancer patients. The purpose of this study is to review the standard and alternative interventions of the management for opioid-induced constipation (OIC). Methods: The studies were searched from databases, including Pubmed, Google scholar, KISS, NDSL, and OASIS. The main search terms included such as constipation, opioid, opioid-induced constipation, cancer, management, herb, and acupuncture. Results: The prevention and usual care of constipation is a key tool for the management of OIC. Also, prophylactic laxatives starting concurrently with opiates helped to prevent developing constipation. Peripherally acting μ-opioid receptor antagonists (PAMORAs) significantly reduced OIC and well-tolerated. In addition, acupuncture, herb medicines, and interferential current or transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation to acupoints had effectiveness in reducing constipation. Conclusion: Preliminary data indicate that PAMORAs and Traditional Korean Medicine may be considered as the management of unresolved OIC. However, due to the limited articles, more systematic and rigorous clinical trials are needed.